Bush's mental health parity stance forces HMOs' PR balancing act

WASHINGTON: Leading mental health organizations have been publicly
applauding President Bush for his recent endorsements of mental health
parity - the belief that HMOs should treat, and pay for, mental
illnesses with the same seriousness as they do physical ones.

WASHINGTON: Leading mental health organizations have been publicly
applauding President Bush for his recent endorsements of mental health
parity - the belief that HMOs should treat, and pay for, mental
illnesses with the same seriousness as they do physical ones.

The HMOs, however, are less enthusiastic.

The American Association of Health Plans (AAHP), which represents more
than 1,000 plans covering more than 170 million Americans, is in the
unenviable position of trying to prevent any mandated increases in
coverage that will cost them money without appearing insensitive to the
needs of the mentally ill. The AAHP's public affairs team, which has
been operating in "rapid response

mode since Bush first endorsed the
issue last month, is gingerly spreading its message to Capitol Hill and
the media that mental health parity could lead to higher premiums and
loss of benefits for most, while helping very few.

"We want people with mental illnesses to have the right level of access
to the right levels of care in the right setting at the right time,"
said Mohit Ghose, deputy director of public affairs. "However,
overriding the system with a one-size-fits-all mandate without letting
people look at the science behind it

would be counterproductive, he
added.

What the AAHP is endorsing is a "science-based approach

in which
legislators would review scientific evidence on the efficacy of mental
health treatment and then conduct a cost/benefit analysis before
enacting laws.